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Page 513
of the oil spouts should have been noted and the ladders moved away or, if that was too dangerous, new ladders set up. But that was not their concernunless the failure to move the ladders was really evidence of the stupidity of the attacking battle leader. If it was, the attacker was not Lord Gwenwynwyn. Incautious and spendthrift of his men's lives he might be, but not stupid.
To Llewelyn's "Who?" there could be no answer from where they stood, yet they could not come closer without knowing whether they wished to attack or join the forces assaulting the keep. Applied to, Alinor was for once at a loss. No banners showed; it was not the kind of battle in which banners could be of any use. The distance was too great to permit the reading of devices on the shields. One of her castellans, she was forced to admit, was brave enough, bull-headed enough, and stupid enough to urge his men to remount assault ladders from which they had once been driven by hot oil.
"But," she added desperately, "I do not believe Sir Giles would let Sir Henry do anything that foolish, and, besideslook, Lord Llewelyn, some ladders have been moved or abandoned. See where those dead men lie?"
"We must decide and decide full soon," was Llewelyn's only reply. "The defense is failing."

 
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